Right when fantasy basketball has hit the home stretch of the regular season, Channing Frye's injury is a huge blow to his owners' playoff chances.
↵Based on Yahoo! player rankings, Frye was the 9th-ranked basketball player in the entire league over the past 30 days. Over the course of the 2010-11 regular season, Frye was 36th overall, and the 10th-ranked center in the league.
↵The timing of this injury is awful for both the Phoenix Suns and fantasy owners everywhere. Frye was playing at an extremely high level on the Suns' road trip, making two game-winning shots and producing nicely from several areas, including rebounding, points and three pointers made.
↵Frye is expected to miss two or three weeks with his shoulder injury, which extends through the playoffs in most NBA fantasy leagues. What should you do if you're a Frye guy?
↵First, check your playoff settings. Does the playoffs end in 3 weeks? You have to seriously consider dropping Channing Frye and picking up his likely replacement, Hakim Warrick. The Wire will likely step into Frye's starting position and take a lot of the available minutes, considering the lack of other options at the 4 spot.
↵Will Robin Lopez and Marcin Gortat play side by side? That's a possibility, but Warrick's value rises steeply due to Frye's injury, even if Grant Hill and Jared Dudley end up playing some PF for the Suns in the next month.
↵Other available options include Nenad Krstic, who slides into the starting center position for the Boston Celtics after Glen Davis aggravated his patella tendon in a win over Golden State. These aren't ideal solutions, but you can't just replace a player of Frye's caliber the week before the playoffs. All you can do is hope for the rest of your team to come through in the clutch.